Deis put city back on right path

Bob Deis, a man who became a lightning rod as Stockton's city manager, steps away from that role Friday.

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Posted Oct. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Oct. 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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Bob Deis, a man who became a lightning rod as Stockton's city manager, steps away from that role Friday.

He leaves the city, he said, better than he found it. We agree because, as he put it, he has told the City Council "what they need to hear, not what they want to hear."

In other words, he spoke truth to power.

That's not always easy, especially when those in power hold the keys to your financial security.

Often, too often in public life, when those in power solicit opinions what they really want is reinforcement.

One of the reasons Stockton dug itself into a financial hole was because of the willingness of City Councils past to ignore warnings while embracing pipe dreams.

By the time Deis came to town, reality could no longer be ignored. The financial well had gone dry, the bills had come due and deep, painful cuts had to be made.

Deis did not tell council members what they wanted to hear and council members who worked with him almost unanimously heeded his warnings.

Voters ousted all but one of the council members up for re-election last November. That was a clear signal they wanted change. But voters also elected a council just as determined to pursue the tough policies recommended by Deis and adopted by the previous council.

Those policies included taking the city into bankruptcy, kicking off an ambitious multi-faceted anti-crime program - the so-called Marshall Plan - and asking voters for more tax revenue to both fight crime and pay the inevitable bills the city faces to exit bankruptcy.

Deis will leave the city just four days before the Nov. 5 tax election. It is not hyperbole to suggest that passage of the 3/4-cent sales tax is the linchpin of the city's financial future.

Some yard signs in opposition to Measure A include the message "Don't trust them," the "them" presumably being the City Council. We must trust "them" because there is no other reasonable plan on the table, certainly none offered by those most vocal in their opposition.

Just saying "no" is not policy, it's a bumper sticker. Stockton voters must say "yes" to the higher sales tax just as this council and the last finally said "yes" to the often brutally tough path Deis charted to eventually bring the city to safe harbor.

"It's been an interesting ride," the 57-year-old Deis said during his public farewell Tuesday night, and the pained city manager wasn't talking about the six ribs he broke in a recent cycling mishap.

It's been interesting, but also extraordinarily tough. Stockton was lucky to have a rhino-skinned manager to help guide the city along the way.